Affixation of objects to garments

ABSTRACT

Described herein are methods and apparatuses to mate the object with a cap through a fabric portion of the garment. The methods and apparatuses described herein may address the needs for a safe, secure, and detachable method and apparatus for affixing an object (such as an encased wireless sensor) to a garment worn by a subject.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application may be related to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/565,169, filed on Dec. 9, 2014 and titled “DETECTION OF CHANGESFROM A SEATED OR LYING BODY POSITION BY SENSING BODY ANGLE”, theentirety of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All publications and patent applications mentioned in this specificationare herein incorporated by reference in their entirety to the sameextent as if each individual publication or patent application wasspecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

FIELD

Methods and apparatuses for safely, securely, and detachably affixing anobject (such as an encased wireless sensor device) to a garment.

BACKGROUND

There are an increasing number of people globally for whom transitionsfrom a bed or chair subject them to a risk of accidental harm, and whoseactivity and location in an indoor environment, such as a house, anursing care facility, or any building, needs to be closely monitored.For example, the elderly, those suffering from debilitating diseases,and those suffering from dementia (including Alzheimer's dementia) aswell as other mental and medical conditions are at risk whentransitioning from a sitting or lying position. For example, for theelderly and/or infirm, accidents and injuries may occur as a result ofwandering out of a bed or chair. However, the need for constantvigilance may cause significant stress to caregivers in home, hospitalsand nursing facilities. It would be beneficial to provide methods andsystems for detection and alerting of bed and/or chair leaving events,which could not only enhance the safety of subjects but also alleviatethe stress of their caregivers. Further, it would also be beneficial toprovide one or more methods and apparatuses for detecting and alertingcaregivers of such transitions to prevent illness/accidents by remotelymonitoring subject's routine activities without requiring the use ofcameras due to privacy concerns.

Previous systems for monitoring subjects to prevent falls or wanderingtypically require more complex, and therefore expensive, methods totrack subject movement. For example, Japanese Laid-Open PatentApplication No. 2-280733 describes the use of load sensors installed ona subject's bed to detect his or her bed departure, and uses weightinformation to determine whether a user is still on the bed or has leftthe bed. Similarly, Japanese Patent No. 3093745, Japanese Patent No.3322632, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,432 each describe the calculation of asubject's center of gravity from weight information of four points on abed and use the center-of-gravity position information to monitor themovement of a user in bed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,706 disclosed describesan in-bed state determination based on measured load characteristics.These references, and similar techniques, all require specialized bedsinstalled with load sensors (or retrofitted beds). The associated costsand cumbersome set-up prevent their wide applications in homes as wellas in nursing facilities and hospitals.

As another solution, U.S. Pat. No. 8,736,439 uses a sensor sock todetect an individual leaving the bed by detecting a change in footpressure. However, not all patients are comfortable wearing socks(especially when sleeping).

Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,481, U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,386, U.S.Pat. No. 6,661,347, U.S. Pat. No. 6,703,939, U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,796,U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,331, U.S. Pat. No. 7,145,461, and U.S. Pat. No.7,479,890 describe systems to evaluate movement of a body relative to anenvironment by sensing dynamic and static accelerative phenomena, anddetermines whether the evaluated body movement is within anenvironmental tolerance. Unfortunately assumptions typically made bysuch systems about the patient's environment may not be accurate, or maylead to artifacts. In addition, such systems may be expensive anddifficult to operate.

Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 8,814,811 describes a fall detection algorithmbased on both the dynamic acceleration and static position signals andthe high sampling rate required for acquiring the dynamic signalconsumes energy.

Described herein are methods and apparatuses that may address the issuesdiscussed above. For example, described herein are methods andapparatuses that may detect and notify caregivers that a patient beingmonitored (i.e., a subject) has changed body position in a manner thatcorresponds specifically with getting out of a bed or getting out of achair. These apparatuses and methods are simple, relatively low-cost andeasy to implement.

Methods that are based on measurement of body position and movement(including those described herein) may require a subject to wear asensor device by affixing the device to the subject's garment. Currentlyavailable means for doing this may include: (1) making the subject weara chest belt or a watch embedded with the sensor; and (2) affixingsensor to a garment worn by the subject through a safety pin, Velcro, ora magnetic strip. These methods, however, do not work well for patientswho suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia, and other mental/memoryconditions. These patients often refuse to wear any “foreign” objectssuch as a chest belt or a sensor wristband. Safety pins are not allowedfor safety concerns. Affixation using interlocking Velcro is not secureenough as the patients can easily disengage the Velcro interlocking.U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,899 discloses a method for affixing a magneticnameplate by placing a magnetic strip behind the subject's garment,hence sandwiching the garment in between the strip and the nameplate.However, the user can easily take off the nameplate, causing concerns ofa choking hazard, particularly for the subjects with memory impairments.Furthermore, magnets cause concerns of electromagnetic interference topacemakers that have been implanted in some subjects. Permanentaffixation of a device to a garment is often not an option because ofpotential damage caused by laundry. A security tag is often affixed tomerchandise garments using an elongated pin pieced through the garmentand interlocked in a base plate, and a special tool is needed todisengage the interlocking mechanism when removing the tag. Recently,MonBaby (https://monbaby.com) has used a MonSnap method to affix a babymonitoring device to his/her clothes by snapping the device in a cap,thus sandwiching the garment in between. This method does not provide asecure affixation, because an adult can easily remove the device bypopping the device out of the cap. Stretching the garment surroundingthe device may also cause the device to pop out of the cap. In summary,there is a need for a method and apparatus for safely, securely, anddetachably affixing an object to a garment, which only a skilled usercan remove.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Described herein are simple methods and a low-cost apparatuses to securea device, such as a sensor, tracker, monitor or other device, to asubject's clothing in a lightweight and non-obtrusive manner, andparticularly a reusable manner that does not damage the garment to whichit is applied. For example, the methods and apparatuses described hereinmay be used to attach one or more sensors to the subject's clothing,e.g., to sense when a subject has gotten out of a bed or chair, and toremotely inform or alert caregivers. This may address the needs for notonly detecting and alerting patients' wandering out of bed/chair, butalso remotely monitoring a subject's routine life to detect illness andother unusual events. A subject, as used herein, may include a patient,or any other person in need of the monitoring described herein; subjectsare not limited to hospital/medical patients, although the term“subject” and “patient” may be used interchangeably herein.

In general, a subject to be monitored may wear a small sensor, e.g., anangle-sensing unit, which can be directly affixed on the clothes,pajama, briefs, a belt or an accessory worn by the subject. Theangle-sensing unit may preferably be tightly attached to the subject'sbody to accurately measure the subject's body angle. The unit may beoriented (e.g., so that an axis of the angle-sensing unit is generallyoriented along the longitudinal axis of the subject) when placed on thesubject. The unit generally includes an angle sensor that may measure aninclination angle (e.g. a static angle relative to gravity, forexample), a microcontroller, a wireless transmitter, and a power supply.When the subject lies down on a bed or sits down on a chair, his or herinitial body position may be set as a baseline. This may be donemanually, e.g. by the monitoring caregiver, or automatically. When thesubject changes his or her body angle by getting up, the sensor maydetect a new body angle; if this new body angle exceeds the baselineangle by a predetermined amount (e.g., equivalent to greater than+/−20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, 40°, 45°, 50°, 55°, 60°), the microcontroller maytransmit a wireless signal, directly or through a server, to thecaregiver's monitoring unit (“monitoring receiver”), which can be asmartphone, a smart watch, a tablet, a PC, a nurse station monitor, or acustom-made monitor. Various alerts can be issued on the monitordepending on whether the intended purpose is to detect wandering of apatient or an unusual event in daily routine life.

A plurality of the angle-sensing units can be monitored simultaneouslyby a single monitoring unit. Furthermore, the angle-sensing units andthe monitoring unit can be further linked to a server through theInternet to form a service system.

These methods and systems for attaching a sensor to a subject's clothingmay have numerous advantages over existing systems. For example, thebody angle sensors described herein may detect a subject's getting upfrom the bed or the chair before his or her foot lands on the floor,which can prevent fall accidents. Further, by comparing the body angle(e.g., static body angle) with respect to its own baseline, thedetection of the change in body becomes reliable.

In addition, the angle sensor may be positioned to measure gross bodyflexion angle only, and any rotations of the body in other directionswill not affect the reliability of the detection.

Furthermore, to measure the static angle (rather than the dynamicacceleration), a low sampling rate (such as once every second) may besufficient to sample the angle sensor, which may significantly save thepower consumption, and reduce or eliminate the need for bulky batteriesand may make the sensor circuit more wearable. Finally, the apparatusesdescribed herein are easy to set up and operate, and may be produced andoperated for very low cost.

Thus, described herein are methods of issuing an alert when a subjectwearing an angle-sensing unit gets up from a bed or a chair. Forexample, such a method may comprise: setting, in a microcontrollerconnected to an angle sensor in the angle-sensing unit, a first valuerepresenting a first angle of the angle-sensing unit when the subject issitting in a chair or reclined in a bed; sampling the angle sensor todetermine a sampled value representing a sampled angle of the sensor;determining a difference between the sampled value and the first valueto detect a change in the subject's body angle; and wirelesslytransmitting an alert if the difference between the sampled value andthe first value exceeds a threshold indicating that the subject hasgotten up from the bed or out of the chair.

As mentioned, in general, setting the first value may comprise manuallysetting the first value once the subject reclines on a bed or sits in achair. This may be performed by the caregiver, e.g., at theangle-sensing unit (by pressing a control, e.g., button, knob, dial,etc.) and/or at the monitoring station in communication with the sensor.Alternatively, the first value may be set automatically, shortly afterbeing applied to the subject, by sampling the angle-sensing unit once ithas been attached to the subject, assuming that the subject is in theinitial position (e.g., recumbent on a bed, sitting in a chair, etc.).

The angle sensor of the angle-sensing unit may be sampled at anysampling rate, such as once every second (e.g. 1 Hz), or once every twoseconds (0.5 Hz). The sample rate may be modified or set by thecaregiver. Sampling may comprise sampling the angle sensor at apreferred sampling rate to determine the sampled value.

In some variations the microcontroller compares the first (e.g.,baseline) angle value to sensed angle values, or more accurately forboth baseline and sensed angle values, values representing the angle ofthe angle-sensing unit and therefore body angle, in the angle-sensingunit; in some variations the angle-sensing unit transmits the sensedangle to a processor that is remote to the angle-sensing unit forperforming the calculations.

In determining if an alert should be transmitted (or in some variationsas mentioned above, simply raised) the apparatus may filter (e.g.,average, limit, etc.) or select samples from the angle sensor that willbe compared with the baseline value. In variations in which the anglesensor is detecting static angle of the angle-sensing unit (andtherefore the subject's body) relative to gravity, for example, thevalue compared to the baseline (as well as the initial selection of thebaseline) may be determined as a ‘stable’ or settled value, averaged(e.g., window averaged) or filtered to reduce other motion (and inparticular other acceleration) artifacts. For example, either or boththe steps of setting the first value and sampling the angle sensor maycomprise measuring a static angle of the angle-sensing unit attached tothe subject; in some variations the angle sensor comprises a single-axisaccelerometer, or a 3-axis accelerometer.

In general, the methods described herein may include receiving the alert(e.g., at a monitoring unit) indicating that the subject wearing theangle-sensing unit has gotten up from a bed or out of a chair.Wirelessly transmitting an alert may include transmitting a signal to amonitoring receiver. The signal may be converted to one or more of: anaudible sound, illuminating light, vibrating notification, or textmessage at the monitoring unit. Wirelessly transmitting an alert mayinclude transmitting a wireless signal to a server through a monitoringunit or a gateway, wherein the server records the wireless signal into adatabase and provides data service to subscribing users.

Any of the methods described herein may also include attaching theangle-sensing unit to the subject, and/or instructing a caregiver toattach the angle-sensing unit to the subject. Attaching may be made in aspecific manner, so that the angle-sensing unit (and in particular theangle sensor in the angle-sensing unit) is oriented relative to thesubject's body. For example, it may be advantageous to attach theangle-sensing unit along the long axis of the subject′ body (e.g.,torso, neck, head, waist, thighs, etc.) with the angle-sensing unitconfigured so that an indicator (e.g., arrow, line, point, alphanumerictext, etc.) is oriented in the long axis, such as up towards thesubject's head/crown or down toward their feet. In general, it may bebeneficial to orient the axis of the angle-sensing unit (andparticularly the angle sensor) approximately along the long axis of thesubject (e.g., within +/−5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, etc.). Thus, any of theapparatuses described herein may include an indicator on theangle-sensing unit indicating the proper orientation of theangle-sensing unit relative to the subject's head, feet, etc. In somevariations the system, such as the monitoring unit, may check with thecaregiver to confirm that the angle-sensing unit is being worn by thesubject with the angle-sensing unit oriented in the subject's long axis.

As mentioned, the angle-sensing unit may be worn directly on thesubject's body (e.g., on their skin, adhesively attached, worn on a bandor strap, etc., or it may be worn on (and/or integrated into) a garmentworn by the subject, including (but not limited to) clothes, pajamas,hospital gown, briefs, a belt, or an accessory worn by the subject, or amedical device (e.g., catheter, tube, etc.). The angle-sensing unit maybe worn tightly on the subject's body for accurate measurement of thesubject's body angle.

Also described herein are methods of attaching to a garment one or moresensors, and/or monitoring a plurality of subjects each wearing anangle-sensing unit and issuing an alert when one of the plurality ofsubject gets up from a bed or a chair. For example, a method mayinclude: setting, for each angle-sensing unit worn by one of thesubjects in the plurality of subjects, a first value representing afirst angle for the angle-sensing unit when the subject wearing thesensor is sitting in a chair or reclined in a bed; sampling, for eachangle-sensing unit worn by one of the subjects in the plurality ofsubjects, an angle sensor of the angle-sensing unit to determine asampled value representing a sampled angle of the sensor; determining,for each angle-sensing unit worn by one of the subjects in the pluralityof subjects, a difference between the sampled value and the first valueto detect a change in a body angle for the subject wearing eachangle-sensing unit; and wirelessly transmitting, for each angle-sensingunit worn by one of the subjects in the plurality of subject's, an alertif the difference between the sampled value and the first value exceedsa threshold indicating that the subject has gotten up from the bed orout of the chair, wherein the alert comprises an identification numberor name uniquely associated with the transmitting angle-sensing unit.

As described above, setting may comprise manually setting, for eachangle-sensing unit worn by one of the subjects in the plurality ofsubjects, the first value once the subject reclines on a bed or sits ina chair One or more alerts may be received (e.g., at a monitoring unit)indicating that one of the subjects has gotten up from a bed or out of achair and identifying the angle-sensing unit transmitting the alert.

Thus, in any of the method and apparatuses described herein, anangle-sensing unit may include a unique (or may be caregiver-marked witha unique) identifier that corresponds to the subject wearing theangle-sensing unit. The unique identifier may be an alphanumeric,numeric, or the like, and may be transmitted with any of thetransmissions (including but not limited to alerts) from theangle-sensing unit.

In some variations the monitoring unit may be configured to trigger analert if the apparatus does not check in within a predetermined timeperiod. For example, in some variations the system (e.g., the monitoringunit) may trigger an alert when periodic signals (including signalsindicating that the body angle is not above the threshold indicatingthat the subject has gotten up) are not received as expected. Forexample, in some variations, the method may include generating an alertat a remote monitoring unit if a wireless transmission is not receivedfor each angle-sensing unit worn by one of the subjects in the pluralityof subject's within a predetermined amount of time.

Also described herein are angle-sensing unit apparatus configured todetermining when a subject wearing the apparatus gets up from a bed or achair. For example, an angle-sensing unit apparatus may include: awireless transmitter; an angle sensor configured to produce a signalcorresponding to a static angle of the angle-sensing unit relative to adirection of gravity; a microcontroller connected to the wirelesstransmitter and to the angle sensor, the microcontroller configured tostore a first value from the angle sensor representing a first angle ofthe angle-sensing unit when a subject wearing the angle-sensing unit issitting in a chair or reclined in a bed, further wherein themicrocontroller is configured to sample the angle sensor at apre-determined sampling rate and determine a difference between thesampled values and the first value to detect a change in the subject'sbody angle and to wirelessly transmitting an alert if the differencebetween the sampled values and the first value exceeds a thresholdindicating that the subject has gotten up from the bed or out of thechair. As mentioned above, the angle sensor may be, e.g., a single-axisor a 3-axis accelerometer. Any of the apparatuses described herein maybe configured (and may include any appropriate structure) to perform thefunctions described above. For example, any of the apparatuses describedherein may be configured so that they include an orientation markingand/or structure indicating the alignment to be worn by the subject, andspecifically, indicating that the device should be worn oriented in thesubject's long axis of the subject's body (e.g., pointing towards thehead, etc.).

Also described herein are methods and apparatuses for safely, securely,and detachably affixing an object, such as a housing encasing the aboveangle sensing unit apparatus, to a garment.

In general, the disclosed method for affixing an object to a garmentincludes mating the object with a pairing cap through the fabric of thegarment. The object may be shaped in a disc, whose side surface isconfigured with one or more spiral-shaped threads. The cap may be shapedin a ring, whose inner surface is configured with one or morespiral-shaped tracks. By screwing the object into the cap through thefabric of the garment, the threads of the object are tightly fit insidethe tracks of the ring, providing a secured affixation of the object tothe garment. The object may be removed from the garment by unscrewingthe cap.

Another embodiment of the affixation method and apparatus incorporatesan additional safety interlocking mechanism that requires an extra pushof the cap in a certain direction before unscrewing to remove the objectfrom the garment. Teeth are configured on the spiral-shaped threads, andtabs are configured on spiral-shaped tracks. One of the teeth on eachthread is interlocked with the tab on each track when the object and thecap are screwed together through the fabric, providing an extra layer ofdifficulty to remove the object from the garment. This extra safety isparticularly desired when affixing a monitoring sensor device to agarment of a patient who suffers memory impairment.

Furthermore, the safety interlocking mechanism is equipped with anadjustment mechanism to accommodate garments with different thicknesses.This is accomplished by making the teeth on the spiral-shaped threadswith an increasing thickness.

As mentioned, a garment includes, but is not limited to, clothes,pajamas, a hospital gown, briefs, a belt, a hat/cap, or a sock.

The object to be affixed to a subject's garment may be an encased sensordevice. For example, described herein is a sensor apparatus configuredto determining when a subject wearing the apparatus gets up from a bedor a chair. This apparatus may include (in addition to any of thefeatures described herein): a housing enclosing a wireless sensor unit;the housing having a first engagement surface; an angle sensor withinthe housing configured to produce a signal corresponding to a body angleof the subject relative to a direction of gravity; a microcontrollerconnected to an RF transmitter and to the angle sensor, themicrocontroller configured to detect a change in the subject's bodyangle and to wirelessly transmitting an alert if the subject gets upfrom the bed or out of the chair; and a cap configured to mate with thefirst engagement surface of the housing through the fabric of a garmentworn by the subject.

The housing (which may be referred to generically herein as an “object”)may be disc-shaped with thickness and configured to fit into the cap,wherein the cap is annular. Alternatively, the housing may be configuredto enclose (though an intervening garment) the cap. In general, featureson the cap (including the sensor/transmitter, controller, etc.) may beswapped between the object (housing) and the cap.

The engagement surface of the device housing may comprise one or aplurality of spiral-shaped threads. The cap may include one or aplurality of spiral-shaped tracks configured on its inner surface, intowhich the thread may fit when positioned with a fabric between the capand the housing. Furthermore, taps or teeth may be configured on thethreads on housing and tabs may be adopted on the tracks of the cap, sothat the teeth and the tabs may be interlocked when the housing isscrewed onto the cap through the fabric of the garment. Furthermore, andteeth having different thicknesses may accommodate fabrics of differentthicknesses.

Any of the methods described herein may also include instructing a user(such as a caregiver) to affix the object/housing to and remove it fromthe subject's garment. Affixation may be done in a manner such that theobject/housing is securely screwed into the pairing cap with the garmentsandwiched in between. Similarly, removal of the object from the garmentmay also be done in a manner such that the object is unscrewed from theparing cap. If the object is, for example, the encased body positionsensing unit apparatus, an orientation will be marked on the surface ofthe case to ensure that a proper alignment of the sensor is maintainedwhen affixing the device to the garment.

In some variations, the method includes removing the object (housing)from the garment by first releasing the safety interlocking mechanismbefore unscrewing the object from the paired cap.

The methods and apparatuses disclosed herein for affixation of an objectto a garment offer many advantages over the existing methods andapparatuses. First, the screw/latching and the interlocking mechanismsmake it difficult to remove the object from the garment, thus providingsecurity of affixation and safety of the patients (to prevent chokingaccidents). Security and safety is highly needed when affixing wearablesensors/transceivers (such as the body angle monitoring unit mentionedabove) to the garments of patients, particularly those suffer frommemory impairment. Second, the methods and apparatus do not involve anypins or magnets, and thus are safe to use on patients. Third, the objectcan be removed from the garment without requiring any tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe claims that follow. A better understanding of the features andadvantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments,in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate one example of a method and apparatus fordetecting a subject's getting up from bed.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a sensor unitfor detecting body angle, and therefore a change from sitting or lyingpositions. This sensor may include an angle sensor, a microcontroller, awireless transmitter, and a power supply.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a monitoring unit monitoring aplurality of sensor units.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a system for detecting body angle andnotifying one or more caregivers that a subject (or subjects) haschanged from sitting or lying positions. The system may include sensorunits, a monitor, a gateway, and a server.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a method and apparatus for detecting asubject's getting up from a chair, as described herein.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate one example of a sensor (e.g., shown in thisexample as a single-axis accelerometer) that may be used to detect achange in body angle as described herein.

FIG. 9 illustrates one example of the method and apparatus for affixingan object to a garment by screwing the object into a paired cap with thegarment sandwiched in between.

FIG. 10 is a top view showing the object affixed to the garment.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional side view showing the object affixed to thegarment.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an example safety interlockingmechanism that further secures the affixation method.

FIG. 13 is a top view showing the object affixed to the garment with thesafety interlocking mechanism.

FIG. 14 is a side view showing the object affixed to the garment withthe safety interlocking mechanism.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional top view showing the object affixed to athin garment with the safety interlocking mechanism.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional side view showing the object affixed to athin garment with the safety interlocking mechanism.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional top view showing the object affixed to athick garment with the safety interlocking mechanism.

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional side view showing the object affixed to thethick garment with the safety interlocking mechanism.

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional top view showing how to release the safetyinterlocking mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, described herein are methods and apparatuses for attachingone or more sensors to a subject's body. For example a sensor (e.g.,devices such as angle-sensing units and systems including one or moreangle-sensing units and/or one or more monitoring unit) can determine achange in gross body angle indicating that a subject wearing the devicehas gotten up and/or out of a bed, and in some variations a chair. Alsodescribed herein are apparatuses and methods for safely, securely, anddetachably affixing objects (such as the angle-sensing units describedherein) to clothing.

For example, FIG. 1, schematically illustrates operation of onevariation of an angle-sensing unit. In FIG. 1, a subject 2 is shownlying down on a bed 3 wearing an angle-sensing unit 1 on his or herbody. In general, the angle-sensing unit can be directly adhered to thesubject's body, or affixed on the clothes, pajama, briefs, a belt or anaccessory worn by the subject. The unit may be tightly attached to thesubject's body to accurately measure the subject's body angle. The unitis oriented so that the initial body position 4 is detected (e.g.,measured) by the sensor unit 1. This value may be set (e.g.,automatically or manually by a caregiver) as the baseline body angle(e.g., a first angle of the angle-sensing unit). The angle-sensing unitmay be oriented so when it is worn an axis of an angle sensor within theangle-sensing unit is approximately aligned with the long axis of thesubject's body.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the subject 2 sits up, the body position andangle (as reflected by the angle of the angle-sensing unit) changed to anew position 5, and the body flexion angle 6 between the new position 5and the baseline position 4 may be measured by the sensor 1. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, an angle sensor within theangle-sensing unit may detect the static angle of the angle-sensing unitrelative to gravity (“down”) in the initial baseline position, and theangle-sensing unit may compare a value (e.g., a component of theacceleration due to gravity in a single axis, that may be approximatelyaligned with the subject's long axis) to the new value(s) sensed by theangle-sensing unit, as shown in FIG. 2. In this example, note that theangle-sensing unit does not need to calculate a complete angle, but mayinstead operate on the sensed values (current/voltage output by theaccelerometer) representing these angles, and which may be converted toactual angle measurements. Thus, for example, the threshold valuesreferred to herein may be in the same units as the sensed values fordirect comparison (e.g., as acceleration values), but may correspond tothreshold angles as recited herein.

In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the measured angle 6 exceedsa pre-determined threshold, the angle-sensing unit 1 may wirelesslysends a signal 7 to a monitoring unit 8, which can be a caregiver'sunit. When the monitoring unit receives the signal 7, the monitoringunit 8 may generate an alert (e.g., an audible sound 9, and/or textalert, and/or vibration alert, and/or visual alert). The alert may also(or alternatively) include a light illumination. The monitoring unit 8can be a smartphone, a smart watch, a tablet, a PC, or a custom-mademonitor. The wireless signal 7 can be transmitted through Bluetooth,Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Ant, or any wireless technologies.

FIG. 3 shows one example of a detailed schematic view of a preferredembodiment of an angle-sensing unit 1, comprising a power supply 10, themicrocontroller 11, angle sensor 12, wireless transmitter 13, and awireless antenna 14. The angle sensor 12 may generally measure the bodyangle 6, and the microcontroller 11 acquires the sensor data and comparethe sensor data with the pre-determined body angle threshold (e.g.,equivalent to greater than about +/−20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, 40°, 45°, 50°,55°, 60°). When the angle 6 exceeds the threshold, the microcontroller11 may determine that the subject has gotten up from the bed, andsubsequently commands the transmitter 13 to send a wireless signal 7through antenna 14.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the sensor system,comprising a single monitoring unit 8 and a plurality of sensor units 1,each worn by a subject and uniquely identified by a number or name. Thissystem allows one caregiver to monitor multiple subjects. When any ofthe sensor units sends a wireless signal to the monitoring unit, themonitor will issue an alert showing the specific identification numberof the subject's name.

Sensor units 1 can be further linked to a server to form a servicesystem that records and reports the subjects' history of data monitoredby the sensor units 1. FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an embodiment of aservice system comprising the angle-sensing unit(s) 1, a monitoring unit8, a gateway unit 15, Internet 16, a server 17, an application 18, adatabase 19, and an additional monitoring unit 20. The angle-sensingunit(s) 1 may be connected to an internet 16 and further to the server17 via the monitoring unit 8 or the gateway unit 15. Data from sensorunit 1 may be stored in the database 19. The application 18 associatedwith the database 19 may run on the server 17. The additional monitoringunit 20 allows additional users(s) to receive the alert 7 and subscribeto data service.

The benefit of having the gateway unit 15 such as that shown in FIG. 5is that the monitoring unit 8 can be placed at a remote location beyondthe wirelessly communicable range to the sensor unit 1, as long as thegateway is within the wirelessly communicable range to the sensor unit1.

The methods and apparatuses described herein may also be used to detectwhen a subject rises out of a chair, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. Inthis example, the apparatus is shown detecting a subject getting up froma chair. In FIG. 6, the subject 2 wearing the angle-sensing unit isshown sitting on a chair 21, wearing the angle-sensing unit 1 on his orher thigh. In general, the angle-sensing unit can be directly adhered tothe subject's body, or affixed on the clothes, pajama, briefs, a belt oran accessory worn by the subject. The unit may preferably be tightlyattached to the subject's body. The initial thigh position (angle) 4measured by the sensor unit 1 may be set as the baseline thigh angle asdiscussed above. For example, this may be the angle or equivalent valuerelative to gravity (“down”) using a single-axis or a 3-axisaccelerometer. As the subject 2 gets up, the thigh position changes to anew position 5, having a new body angle. This change in body angle maybe detected by the apparatus as the angle 6 between the new position 5and the baseline position 4, e.g. as measured by the angle sensor of theangle-sensing unit 1. When this difference in the measured angle fromthe baseline 6 exceeds a pre-determined threshold (e.g., equivalent togreater than +/−20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, 40°, 45°, 50°, 55°, 60°, or betweenany of these angles (e.g., between about 20° and 60°, etc.), the sensorunit 1 wirelessly sends a signal 7 to the monitoring unit 8, which canbe a caregiver's unit. When it receives the signal 7, the monitoringunit 8 generates an alert, such as an audible sound 9 and/or a vibratingnotification and/or a light illumination, etc. The monitoring unit 8 canbe a smartphone, a smart watch, a tablet, a PC, or a custom-mademonitor. The wireless signal 7 can be transmitted through Bluetooth,Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Ant, or any wireless technologies.

Although the example shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 include the sensorpositioned on the subject's thigh, in practice the sensor may bepositioned at other locations, including on the subject's torso, and maydetect, for example, the subject leaning forward when standing to getout of the chair; although a transient motion, if the sample rate forthe sensor is sufficiently high (e.g., greater than a few times persecond) the change in position, including the change in static angle,may be accurately sensed. However, in general, there may be preferredlocations for placement of the angle-sensing units described herein,including on the subject's thigh, particularly for use in detectingstanding from a sitting position, and on the subjects torso, neck orhead, which may be particularly sensitive for detecting sitting up toget out of bed.

As mentioned above, in any of these variations, the angle-sensing unitincludes an angle sensor. FIGS. 8A and 8B schematically illustrate asingle-axis accelerometer that may be used as an angle sensor asdescribed herein. Other angle sensors may be used (including multi-axisaccelerometers including 3-axis accelerometers, gravity sensors, etc.).In reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, as an example, a single-axisaccelerometer can be used to measure the static angle of the human body.When the accelerometer axis X is tilted with an angle θ with respect tothe horizontal plane (e.g., perpendicular to the direction of gravity,g), the accelerometer measures the vector component of the gravitationalacceleration g projected to the X-axis, i.e.:A _(x) =g×sin(θ)

where A_(x) is the accelerometer's output acceleration. Therefore, theangle can be calculated as:

$\theta = {{\sin^{- 1}\left( \frac{A_{x}}{g} \right)}.}$

In this example, the output value of the single-axis accelerometer maybe particularly useful to approximate body angle, particularly when thex axis (which may be referred to as the axis of the angle sensor or theaxis of the angle-sensing unit) is aligned with the long axis of thesubject's body, generally extending from the top of the head to thefeet. Further, it may be beneficial to measure only the static angle,separating out or ignoring the (rapidly-changing) dynamic forces on thesensor due to the movement (e.g., when sitting up). This may be achievedby filtering, averaging, and/or windowing the detected values. Forexample, rapid changes in the output of the angle sensor of theangle-sensing unit (e.g., the single-axis accelerometer) may be ignoredin favor of static (steady-state) values, which may be persistent fortwo or more (e.g., 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc.) sequential samples. Themicrocontroller may analyze the output of the angle sensor to make thesedeterminations.

Also described herein are methods and associated apparatuses for safely,securely, and detachably affixing an object (such as an encased wearablesensor) to a garment. In addition, described herein are methods andapparatuses for simple and low-cost wireless geolocation of subjectswith room-wise accuracy in an indoor environment.

For example, FIGS. 9 to 11 schematically illustrate the operation of onevariation of an apparatus for affixing an object 101 to a garment 103 byscrewing the object into a paired cap 102 with the garment 103sandwiched between 101 and 102. In some versions, the object 101 isconfigured with a plurality of spiral-shaped threads 104, and the pairedcap are fabricated with matching spiral-shaped tracks 105. When the cap101 is screwed into the cap 102 through the fabric 103, the threads 104fit tightly inside the tracks 105, thus providing secured affixation ofthe object to the fabric of the garment. Alternatively, the object 101may be connected through the garment by a latching mechanism that ispaired with the cap 102 on the opposite side of the garment. Althoughthe threaded screw is one type of latching mechanism that may be used,an alternative latching mechanism may be, for example, one or more tabsthat can be extended from either or both the object side to engage amating region on the cap side, and/or vice versa (e.g., tabs that extendfrom the cap side to engage a mating region on the object side. The tabsmay be engaged through the fabric. For example, the tabs may be springloaded and/or include a spring or other bias element to hold them inengagement. The tabs may be lockable in the engaged configuration (e.g.,to prevent removal).

The affixation method may also require the user to affix the object toand later remove it from the garment. For example, affixation may bemade in a manner such that the object is securely screwed into thepairing cap with the garment sandwiched in between. Similarly, removalof the object from the garment may also be made in a manner such thatthe object is unscrewed from the pairing cap.

In general, the object may be integrated with a sensor unit, or it maybe a case holding the sensor unit for monitoring/tracking the subject'smovements, location, etc. Other sensors may include sensors that monitorthe wearer's vital signs, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 11, object 101 canbe a case that houses a battery-powered wearable sensor unit, such asthe body position sensing device as disclosed above. By securelyaffixing the sensor on the subject's garment with the initial sensororientation properly maintained using a mark on its surface, the bodyposition of the subject wearing the sensor can be accurately measuredand monitored by the sensor.

The object may be integrated with an RF transceiver (a transmitter orreceiver), or it may be a case holding the transceiver. As illustratedin FIG. 11, object 101 can also be a case that houses a battery-poweredlow-power transceiver circuit. Such a transceiver may be used for, butis not limited to, indoor geolocation of the subject who wears thetransceiver.

FIGS. 12 to 14 schematically illustrate one version of a safetyinterlocking mechanism. A number of wedged teeth 108 are fabricated oneach of the spiral-shaped threads on object 106, and a tab 110 isfabricated on each of the spiral-shaped tracks on the inner surface ofthe cap 107. After screwing the object 106 into the cap 107 with thefabric sandwiched in between, one of the wedged teeth on each thread ofthe object is locked in with the tab on the matching track of the cap.Therefore, the wedged interlocking mechanism provides an extra layer ofsecurity to the already secured affixation due to the use of the screwmechanism.

In some variations, the teeth interlocking the object with the cap maybe ‘dull’, e.g., have rounded edges and/or smooth surfaces/edges, toprevent damaging the fabric interposed between the two. Rounded/dulledges may prevent snagging and/or puncturing the fabric.

The wedged interlocking mechanism may also be equipped with anadjustment mechanism to accommodate garments of different thicknesses.FIGS. 15 to 16 show cross-sectional top views of the middle of theobject 106 and the cap 107. In this example, the teeth engaging aninterlock (e.g., 110) in the threaded region have different thicknesses(or gradually decrease in the gap between the teeth in thecounterclockwise direction), allowing for different thicknesses offabrics there between. For example, the fabric 103 in FIG. 15 is thickerthan the fabric 111 in FIG. 16. Therefor, the interlocking 110 takesplace in different teeth—the tooth with a larger gap for the thickerfabric (FIG. 15) and the tooth with a smaller gap for the thinner fabric(FIG. 16). With the gradually decreasing gap between the wedge teeth 108in the counterclockwise direction, this affixation method canaccommodate a variety of the garment thicknesses. For example, a thickerfabric is locked at the first pair of wedges that has a larger gap,while a thin fabric is locked at the last pair of wedges, which has asmaller gap.

As shown in FIG. 17 (thick fabric) and FIG. 18 (thin fabric), thedifference in the garment thickness results in the difference in thevertical gap between the object 106 and the cap 107; the thick garmentcauses a larger vertical gap. However, the difference in fabricthickness does not affect the gap in the radial direction, asillustrated in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16.

When removing the object from the garment, the cap may be first squeezedin a certain location to disengage the wedged interlocking mechanismbefore unscrewing the object from the cap. FIG. 19 illustrates theunlocking process by exerting a pair of pushing force 112 on the cap 107with the hands of the user to deform the cap and release the wedgedinterlocking mechanism, before unscrewing the object 106 and cap 107 offthe garment 103.

The methods and apparatuses disclosed herein for affixation of an objectto a garment offer many advantages over the existing methods andapparatuses. First, the screw/latching and the interlocking mechanismsmake it difficult to remove the object from the garment, thus providingsecurity of affixation and safety of the patients (to prevent chockingaccidents). Security and safety is highly needed when affixing wearablesensors/transceivers (such as the body angle monitoring unit mentionedabove) to the garments of patients, particularly those suffer frommemory impairment. Second, the methods and apparatus do not involve anypins or magnets, and thus are safe to use on patients. Third, the objectcan be removed from the garment without requiring any tool.

This attachment mechanism for mating an object (including encasedsensor/transceiver device) onto a garment can have a variety ofmanifestations.

When a feature or element is herein referred to as being “on” anotherfeature or element, it can be directly on the other feature or elementor intervening features and/or elements may also be present. Incontrast, when a feature or element is referred to as being “directlyon” another feature or element, there are no intervening features orelements present. It will also be understood that, when a feature orelement is referred to as being “connected”, “attached” or “coupled” toanother feature or element, it can be directly connected, attached orcoupled to the other feature or element or intervening features orelements may be present. In contrast, when a feature or element isreferred to as being “directly connected”, “directly attached” or“directly coupled” to another feature or element, there are nointervening features or elements present. Although described or shownwith respect to one embodiment, the features and elements so describedor shown can apply to other embodiments. It will also be appreciated bythose of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature thatis disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap orunderlie the adjacent feature.

Terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.For example, as used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/orgroups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items and may beabbreviated as “/”.

Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”,“upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description todescribe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) orfeature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that thespatially relative terms are intended to encompass differentorientations of the device in use or operation in addition to theorientation depicted in the figures. For example, if a device in thefigures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” otherelements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements orfeatures. Thus, the exemplary term “under” can encompass both anorientation of over and under. The device may be otherwise oriented(rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relativedescriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Similarly, the terms“upwardly”, “downwardly”, “vertical”, “horizontal” and the like are usedherein for the purpose of explanation only unless specifically indicatedotherwise.

Although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describevarious features/elements (including steps), these features/elementsshould not be limited by these terms, unless the context indicatesotherwise. These terms may be used to distinguish one feature/elementfrom another feature/element. Thus, a first feature/element discussedbelow could be termed a second feature/element, and similarly, a secondfeature/element discussed below could be termed a first feature/elementwithout departing from the teachings of the present invention.

As used herein in the specification and claims, including as used in theexamples and unless otherwise expressly specified, all numbers may beread as if prefaced by the word “about” or “approximately,” even if theterm does not expressly appear. The phrase “about” or “approximately”may be used when describing magnitude and/or position to indicate thatthe value and/or position described is within a reasonable expectedrange of values and/or positions. For example, a numeric value may havea value that is +/−0.1% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−1%of the stated value (or range of values), +/−2% of the stated value (orrange of values), +/−5% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−10%of the stated value (or range of values), etc. Any numerical rangerecited herein is intended to include all sub-ranges subsumed therein.

Although various illustrative embodiments are described above, any of anumber of changes may be made to various embodiments without departingfrom the scope of the invention as described by the claims. For example,the order in which various described method steps are performed mayoften be changed in alternative embodiments, and in other alternativeembodiments one or more method steps may be skipped altogether. Optionalfeatures of various device and system embodiments may be included insome embodiments and not in others. Therefore, the foregoing descriptionis provided primarily for exemplary purposes and should not beinterpreted to limit the scope of the invention as it is set forth inthe claims.

The examples and illustrations included herein show, by way ofillustration and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which thesubject matter may be practiced. As mentioned, other embodiments may beutilized and derived there from, such that structural and logicalsubstitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scopeof this disclosure. Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter maybe referred to herein individually or collectively by the term“invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarilylimit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventiveconcept, if more than one is, in fact, disclosed. Thus, althoughspecific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of safely, securely, and detachablyaffixing an object onto a portion of a garment, wherein the object isconfigured to mate with a cap through a fabric region of the garment,the method comprising: placing the fabric region between the object andthe cap; and mating the object and the cap together with the fabricregion therebetween, further wherein the object is shaped in a disc withone or a plurality of spiral-shaped threads configured on its sidesurface, and the cap is shaped in a ring with one or a plurality ofspiral-shaped tracks configured on its inner surface, so that thethreads and the tracks are engaged when screwing the object into the capthrough the fabric, further comprising an interlocking region with teethconfigured on the threads of the object and tabs configured on the cap,wherein the teeth are interlocked with the tabs when the object and thecap are screwed together through the fabric, wherein the teeth arearranged with a decreasing gap between adjacent teeth so that differentthicknesses of fabric may be held between the object and the cap.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising removing the object from thegarment by disengaging the object from the cap.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising removing the object from the garment by squeezingthe cap to release the interlocking teeth and tabs and then unscrewingthe object from the cap.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein placingcomprises placing the fabric region between the object and the capwherein a body flexion angle sensor is coupled to the object.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, further wherein the body flexion angle sensorincludes a microcontroller and is configured to produce a signalcorresponding to a flexion angle of a body of a subject wearing thegarment and to communicate the signal to the microcontroller to detect achange in the subject's body flexion angle, and to generate, transmit orgenerate and transmit an alert when the change in the subject's bodyflexion angle exceeds a threshold indicating that the subject has gottenup form a bed or out of a chair.
 6. An apparatus configured to safely,securely, and detachably affix an object to a portion of a garment, theapparatus comprising: an object shaped in a disc having a thickness,comprising one or a plurality of spiral-shaped threads on a sidesurface, an annular cap comprising one or a plurality of spiral-shapedtracks on an inner surface configured to mate with the spiral-shapedthreads of the object through a fabric of the garment, and aninterlocking region with teeth on the spiral-shaped threads of theobject and tabs on the cap, configured so that the teeth interlock withthe tabs when the object and the cap are screwed together through thefabric of the garment, wherein the teeth are arranged with a decreasinggap between the teeth so that different thicknesses of fabric may beheld between the object and the cap.
 7. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising a body flexion angle sensor including a microcontroller,wherein the body flexion angle sensor is configured to produce a signalcorresponding to a flexion angle of a body of a subject wearing thegarment and to communicate the signal to the microcontroller to detect achange in the subject's body flexion angle, and to generate, transmit orgenerate and transmit an alert when the change in the subject's bodyflexion angle exceeds a threshold indicating that the subject has gottenup form a bed or out of a chair.
 8. A method of safely, securely, anddetachably affixing a device onto a portion of a garment worn by asubject, wherein the device is enclosed in a housing configured to matewith a cap through a fabric region of the garment, the methodcomprising: placing the fabric region between the housing and the cap;and mating the housing and the cap together with the fabrictherethrough, wherein the device is enclosed in a disc-like housing withone or a plurality of spiral-shaped threads configured on the sidesurface, and the cap is shaped in a ring with one or a plurality ofspiral-shaped tracks configured on the inner surface, so that thethreads and the tracks are engaged when screwing the housing into thecap through the fabric, further comprising an interlocking region withteeth configured on the threads of the housing and tabs configured onthe cap, so that the teeth are interlocked with the tabs when thehousing and the cap are screwed together through the fabric of thegarment, wherein the teeth are arranged with a decreasing gap betweenadjacent teeth so that different thicknesses of fabric may be heldbetween the housing and the cap, wherein the device is enclosed in adisc-like housing with one or a plurality of spiral-shaped threadsconfigured on the side surface, and the cap is shaped in a ring with oneor a plurality of spiral-shaped tracks configured on the inner surface,so that the threads and the tracks are engaged when screwing the housinginto the cap through the fabric.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising removing the device from the garment by disengaging thehousing from the cap.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprisingremoving the device from the garment by squeezing the cap to release theinterlocking teeth and tabs and then unscrewing the housing from thecap.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the device comprises a bodyflexion angle sensor including a microcontroller that is configured toproduce a signal corresponding to a static flexion angle of a body of asubject wearing the garment and to communicate the signal to themicrocontroller to detect a change in the subject's body flexion angle,and to generate, transmit or generate and transmit an alert when thechange in the subject's body flexion angle exceeds a thresholdindicating that the subject has gotten up form a bed or out of a chair.